Night Shift
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“Scottish author and illustrator Debi Gliori's small but mighty picture book, Night Shift, is an eye-opening look at depression.”—BookPage
"A poignant, empathetic and ultimately hopeful book."—School Library Journal
"By giving depression physical dimension, Gliori diffuses some of its strange, persistent power.“—Publishers Weekly
"Debi Gliori has given us all a powerful, and beautiful, gift with Night Shift."—Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why and Piper, his first graphic novel, which he coauthored
"It's a masterpiece.”—David Walliams, bestselling children's author
From beloved author and illustrator Debi Gliori (No Matter What) comes Night Shift, a groundbreaking lushly illustrated picture book based on Gliori's own personal history with depression.
Fighting dragons is one way of fighting depression. This book is another.
Through stunning black and white illustration and deceptively simple text, author and illustrator Debi Gliori provides a fascinating and absorbing portrait of depression and hope in Night Shift, a moving picture book about a young girl haunted by dragons. The young girl battles the dragons using 'night skills': skills that give her both the ability to survive inside her own darkness and the knowledge that nothing—not even long, dark nights filled with monsters—will last forever.
Drawn from Gliori's own experiences and struggles with depression, the book concludes with a moving author's note explaining how depression has affected her and how she continues to cope. Gliori hopes that by sharing her own experience she can help others who suffer from depression, and to find that subtle shift that will show the way out.
A brave and powerful book, give Night Shift to dragon fighters young and old, and any reader who needs to know they're not alone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a small-format picture book aimed at a teenage and adult audience, Gliori (Side by Side) uses stark language and somber charcoal-like artwork to reflect on the weight and intensity of depression. A girl with chin-length hair who looks to be around 12 or 13 (a depiction of her in the shower shows that her body is beginning to develop) describes the arrival of something beyond description. "Words left me," she explains. "There was no language for this feeling." Gliori alternately shows the nameless sensation as a hollow inside the girl's stomach, a heavy fog, and spiky dragons that assail her. Although depression isn't mentioned explicitly until an endnote, Gliori's metaphors leave little doubt about the magnitude of what the girl is facing, particularly in a scene that takes aim at well-meaning but useless platitudes ("Pull yourself together. Get a grip. Think of the starving millions"). Significantly, her struggle is not as simple as outrunning her enemies rather, the tide begins to shift at the moment when she accepts weakness. By giving depression physical dimension, Gliori diffuses some of its strange, persistent power. Ages 13 up.
